


The One Where Everyone Finds Out About Barba and Carisi

by LakeYarina



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Developing Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Mike Dodds Lives, Secret Relationship, Sneaking Around, but I forgot he was engaged haha whoopsies, friends - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:20:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24084982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LakeYarina/pseuds/LakeYarina
Summary: it's a secret relationship fic based on how everyone found out monica and chandler were together on friends
Relationships: Rafael Barba/Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 61





	The One Where Everyone Finds Out About Barba and Carisi

**Author's Note:**

> FWIW:
> 
> For the most part Sonny is Chandler and Rafael is Monica, but for creative liberty purposes, this isn't super rigid.
> 
> Kat is Rachel, Amanda is Phobe, and Ross is TBD.

Sonny stood in front of his mirror, adjusting his shirt collar, pausing and adjusting it again another three times, trying to obfuscate a small hickey that was just a millimeter high enough on his neck to be difficult to hide. He had originally meant to run by Duanne Reade and get makeup to cover it with, but after parting ways with Rafael he found himself so mopey that he just took a shower and went straight to bed, completely forgetting about the issue until about fifteen minutes ago. After a few more attempts he eventually got a result he was comfortable with, grabbing his briefcase and phone off of his bed to head out. Swiping open his phone as he walked out the door, he smiled at the push notification waiting for him on his screen.

 **Rafael**  
_Have a good day, miss you already._

Sonny smiled and sent back a barrage of heart emojis in response, smiling fondly. Just three days ago he had surprised Rafael with booking them a room in the hotel the New York Bar Association Conference was being held in and paying for both of their registrations. It had been nice to escape the SVU bubble for a weekend, and escaping that bubble with Rafael was a bonus. They spent most of the day in different panels and speakers, but when things wrapped up for the day in the evenings they took full advantage of the seclusion of their hotel room and didn’t leave each other’s arms unless absolutely necessary. Sonny would be lying if he said he didn’t feel a pang of sadness having woken up in his own apartment alone. But with the way his relationship with Rafael was developing, he took comfort in knowing that it likely wouldn’t be that way for too much longer. 

When he walked off the elevator at One Hogan Place Mike was waiting for him outside of his office and smiled when he saw the other man coming. “How was your weekend?” He asked as he followed him inside, Sonny suddenly feeling torn. He wanted to be honest, and he knew Mike wouldn’t have a negative thing to say if he was, but he and Rafael had agreed not to tell anyone for now. He settled on sharing an anecdote that was general enough that it wouldn’t raise any red flags, or so he thought.

“It was good. Saw Rudy Guliani waiting for an elevator.” Sonny said as he sat on the edge of his desk, taking the file folder of casework Mike was holding off of him. When he looked up Mike was looking right back at him with a quizzical expression, it suddenly hitting Sonny like a freight train that he had just unintentionally walked himself into a trap. 

“What was he doing in Staten Island suburbia?” Mike said and tilted his head. “That’s where you were, with your family, right?” He continued, Sonny scrambling for a save, and making a mental note to not share that story with anyone else who was under the impression he was in Staten Island for the weekend. “Yeah, yeah. I don’t know what Rudy was doing there. I think trying to understand anything he does in this day and age is an impossible feat.” He said, grateful when Mike seemed to accept his response. 

Still, he couldn’t shake how uncomfortable he felt, itching to get out of the room and splash some water on this bathroom as a quasi-factory reset of the past few minutes.

“Before we get started on this Hannigan case crap I’m gotta piss, I’ll be right back.” He said and left, Mike plopping down into the chair across from his desk.  
-  
Mike spun a pen between his fingers as he wracked his brain for why Carisi acting so strange, but he didn’t get far before his cellphone, which he hadn’t taken to the bathroom with him started to ring. Too nosy for his own good, Mike grabbed it, and when the number didn’t register as someone in his contacts, he threw a glance over his shoulder to make sure that the room was still empty and answered it.

”Hello! Is this ADA Carisi?” A chipper voice said on the other end, Mike checking the door again before responding. “He‘s not available right now but I can pass on a message if you’d like.” He said, leaning back with a smirk as he awaited whatever he was about to find out, and against his better morals, hoping it was something interesting. 

”Oh this is just the Williamsburg Hotel in Brooklyn that he stayed at this weekend calling to let him know that he might have left his watch in his room. It’s a black Rolex.” The woman’s voice on the other end continued, Mike doing a double-take. 

_Since when could Carisi afford a Rolex? And wasn’t he in Staten Island for the weekend, not Brooklyn?_

Before he could give a response he heard the door creak open, turning around with an apologetic look, the phone still held to his ear. Sonny narrowed his eyes and mouthed _is that my phone?_ , Mike looking at him sheepishly.

”Well Mr.Carisi just came back, so I’ll let you repeat that to him.” He rushed out into the phone and held it out to Sonny, who snatched it out of his hand with a half-hearted glare.  
-  
Sonny wasn’t actually angry. His friendship was Mike had always revolved largely around them messing with each other, and he expected it to be Olivia or Rollins waiting for him on the other end of the line when he grabbed his phone back. But when it was neither of them, his stomach dropped. Trying to keep his expression even for Mike’s sake, he let the receptionist reiterate the message about the watch and hung up without responding.

“Number one, don’t touch my phone. Number two, that hotel-” He started after a beat of awkward silence, but Mike was up and placing a gentle hand on his forearm before he could even finish his sentence. 

“Do you have any idea how risky it is to have a sugar daddy when you’re in a line of work under so much public scrutiny?” He said in a low voice, giving him a concerned look. Sonny was taken aback by _that_ being his friend’s best guess as to what was going on, though he knew it would make Rafael laugh when he recounted it to him later. “No! God no!” He said and shoved Mike away from him, rolling his eyes. “I don’t have a sugar daddy.” He continued, ignoring Mike’s look of disbelief. “They probably just mixed up my room number with someone else.”

Kicking himself when he realized he had just walked himself into another trap, he looked away, Mike smirking. 

“So you were in Brooklyn?” 

Sonny huffed and walked around him to sit down behind his desk, motioning for Mike to sit back down himself. “You came here to talk about the Hannigan case, how about we actually do that.” He said, grateful that Mike took his tone shift seriously and resigned himself to dropping the topic. For now.  
-  
The following Friday the everyone piled into Olivia’s apartment for their monthly squad (former members included) get-together. Rafael hadn’t been able to make it to the last two, which made this the first one since their relationship had progressed, and Sonny hoped the tension wasn’t as palpable to everyone else as it was to them. They had agreed to arrive separately and go back to Rafael’s apartment when they left, but having to spend a few hours more or less living a lie was damn near painful. When Rafael brushed a hand over his back on his way to the kitchen Sonny about near jumped out of his skin, Rafael giving him a small smirk from afar as he refilled his whiskey glass.

“Rafa, I heard Rudy Guilieni was staying in the same hotel that your conference was at last weekend,” Olivia said from the couch as he walked back over, Sonny saying a silent prayer that Mike hadn’t been paying attention, and cursing under his breath when he looked over to where he was sitting and could tell by his furrowed eyebrows that he had most definitely heard her.

Rafael laughed as he sat back down and took a sip of his drink, nodding. ”Ran into him waiting for an elevator. He’s much shorter in person.” He said.

”You’re one to talk when it comes to height, Barba.” Fin cut in and the entire squad laughed, Sonny giving a forced chuckle with his eyes directed on Mike, who was looking between him and Rafael with a concentrated expression.

“On a completely different note, I think my watch got stolen.” Rafael continued, “But maybe it’s on me for spending so much money on a Rolex.” 

The second the word ‘watch’ left his mouth Sonny wanted the floor to open up and swallow him, but found himself jumping to his feet when he saw Mike go wide-eyed, his mouth hanging open like a fish. 

“Hey Mike can I talk to you for a second?” Sonny rushed out tightly, The entire room turned to look at him, Sonny mouthing _"you too"_ towards Rafael as he yanked Mike up from the recliner he was in by his arm. 

Mike didn’t protest, but started rambling and mumbling a mile a minute. “Oh, oh, you have so much to ex-” He started to say louder, but was cut off by Sonny slamming a hand over his mouth and manhandling him down the hallway and into Oliva’s guest bedroom, Rafael following and slamming the door shut behind them so loud that it reverberated in the living room. The rest of the squad looked between each other and the hallway with a bemused expression. 

“They’re always like this, aren’t they?” Kat said after a beat, the rest of the squad nodding, and Olivia mockingly raising her glass. 

"Welcome to SVU.”  
-  
Sonny wrestled Mike onto the bed with one hand still clamped over his mouth, and his free arm around his neck as he struggled to break away. Standing against the door, Rafael crossed his arms. “Is someone going to tell me what’s going on or was I just invited in here to watch you two reenact WWE?” He said, Sonny giving Rafael a precursory apologetic look before releasing Mike, who immediately sprung up jack-in-a-box style. 

“I knew you didn’t own a Rolex!” He said and pointed at Sonny, who made a half-hearted attempt to get him to quiet down. 

Rafael furrowed his eyebrows at the both of them, Sonny sighing. “I stepped out of my office for a minute and left my phone on my desk. The hotel called to inform me that your Rolex was left in our room and this dumb ass here,” He started and paused to whack Mike upside the head. “answered the phone for me. I forgot to tell you.” He continued, Rafael uncrossing his arms and relaxing. 

“You?” Mike said to Rafael first before turning to Sonny ”And you?” 

“Yes Michael,” Sonny started and put both hands on his shoulders. “but you can’t tell anyone, no one knows.” He continued, looking at Rafael across the room. “How? When?” Mike continued, Sonny looking up at Rafael and mouthing _"can I tell him?"_. Rafael ignored the question in favor of answering Mike himself.

__

__

“In Iowa.” He said, unable to stop the smile that came onto his face at the memory. Sonny had flown out to 'help him with his workload' and it had been the turning point in their relationship. The fact that it was Valentine’s Day hadn’t hurt either. 

“In Iowa?!” Mike yelled, both Rafael and Sonny raising their voices to hush him at the same time. “When did you go to Iowa?” He said to Sonny, lowering his voice by a small degree. 

“Valentine’s day weekend,” Sonny said, Mike taking a step back from him with a sulky expression. 

“When I texted you about Valentine’s Day you said you had pink eye.” He said and glared, Rafael raising an eyebrow. “Why were you trying to make Valentine’s Day plans with him?” He said, though admittedly more accusatory sounding than he had meant to. 

Sonny turned red, taking a step towards Mike with a hand raised to hush him, to no avail. “Every year on Valentine’s Day until this year,” He started with a glare. “We got wasted and watched stupid buddy cop movies to forget our single woes.” He continued, Rafael laughing as Sonny buried his face in his hands. 

He recovered after a moment, taking a more serious tone. “Moving on, you seriously can’t tell anyone,” Sonny said, Mike tilting his head. “Why aren’t you? We live in New York City! The squad would be thrilled!” He said, Rafael speaking up again. “We don’t want to tell anyone yet because we don’t want to put Sonny’s career in jeopardy as a new ADA. They’ll think he slept his way into the position, even if it, if our relationship is, uh” Rafael started, pausing to bite his lip. ”more than just sleeping together” He settled on, Sonny looking at him with a soft smile. 

“It is?” Mike said, Sonny brushing past him and snaking an arm around Rafael’s waist, standing by his side and pulling him close. 

“Yeah, it is.” He said, Rafael leaning up to kiss him, Sonny got lost in the moment and briefly forgot Mike was there, cupping Rafael’s face in his hands and deepening the kiss. 

“Okay okay I’m super happy for you but I don’t need to see that!” Mike said loudly after a beat and they pulled back from one another, only to be interrupted again by Amanda yelling from the living room. “Cut the weird threesome shit out and get in here, we’re playing King’s Cup!” She said, Mike stifling a laugh and clapping Sonny on the back before opening the door and leaving. Sonny put a hand on Rafael’s arm to hold him back, peeking out into the hall to make sure they were alone before pushing him up against the wall, Rafael reaching a hand around to grab his ass. Sonny kissed up his neck, Rafael humming in amusement. 

“You know if we stay back here much longer they’re going to come looking for us.” He said and Sonny shrugged, Rafael entertaining his riskiness by pulling Sonny closer to him by the fabric of his shirt. 

The moment didn’t last long though, Kat being the next squad member to yell out from the living room, “Barba, Carisi, come on!” She said and Sonny reluctantly backed up to let Rafael walk out ahead of him, rolling his eyes at Mike, who looked at the both of them with a knowing smirk. One person knowing couldn't hurt, right? 

**Author's Note:**

> next chapter, kat finds out, mike finds out that kat found out, and amanda finds out (-: i live and breathe for comments!! come find me on the bird app @fourdayshome


End file.
